He Finally Grew Up
by x white x rabbit x
Summary: The prequel to The Marauders' Final Year at School. It's their sixth year, starting at Christmas break, and Lily and James are at each other's throats the whole time, but can something change?
1. Wake Up Call

A/N: Nothing to really introduce this but the fact that it's the prequel to the Marauders' Final Year at School. If you haven't read it, read this one first because it's way better to read what comes first than what comes after I think, but whatever you want to do, just go ahead.

Disclaimer: Saldy, I only own the peeps you dont recognize, everything else is JK Rowling's

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"**_James Harold Potter_**!" Lily Evans was screaming at the top of her lungs. Her emerald green eyes were smoldering with rage and she was holding a frightened looking sixteen-year-old by the tie. Her vibrant and dark read hair made her look even more menacing. She had this glare that just stopped people in their wake and they'd melt. She was the person you never wanted to piss off, and Lily was definitely pissed right about now. She had some sort of green goop dripping from her hair and a note in her hand saying:

_Merry Christmas, Darling, Evans!_

The boy she was holding had messy and unruly black hair and hazel eyes. He was tall and had a gorgeous body that was toned and muscled from Quidditch. All in all, you could call him hot, but Lily didn't want to think of him that way, he'd been tormenting her since the day they'd met a little less than six years ago. It was Christmas holidays and Lily had decided to stay at school this time. Apparently James had too, along with his posse of other troublemakers. Lily was a Gryffindor house prefect, along with hers and James's equal good friend Remus. It was, by all means, a difficult job for Remus. He was shaking his sandy blonde hair, his blue eyes revealing nothing but total disapproval for one of his best friend's behavior. Sirius was looking like he was about to fall on the floor laughing at James for the situation he had landed himself into. As Sirius Black stood there, practically every girl in the Great Hall was watching him intently. He winked at them over his shoulder and they just about melted. He had long black hair tat hung handsomely and shaggily on his face coming down to just below his brow line. He had a perfectly formed body that was also muscled and toned from Quidditch. Every girl in the school was in love with him and every girl in the entire school had dated him, except for two, Claire and Lily. Even one of Lily's best friends, Tanya, had dated him once, and was dumped within five days. Tanya was tall, tan, with dark eyes and hair. Her father was form Spain and her mother was British. She was half-and-half. He mother was a witch, her father a muggle. She was, overall, very pretty and exotic looking.

Peter stood behind Sirius, a cupcake in hand, devouring it with a fearful look in his eye. He was a chubby, mousy-haired boy with fat legs and a round stomach. He ate his weight in sweets once a month at least and slept it off as quickly as it was devoured. He liked Lily, but he wasn't stupid enough to make her angry like James was. Lily had always been nice to him and tried to help him in classes his friends couldn't, like Charms and Care of Magical Creatures.

"Lily, just let it go," urged her best friend Claire from behind her. Lily turned around and glared sharply at Claire, who immediately backed down. Claire was the embodiment of Aphrodite if there was one. She had long, straight, thick golden-blonde hair that fell to her waistline. She had a perfectly toned and beautifully tanned body from Quidditch and she had these amazing eyes that lured people in. Her eyes sparkled like stars in the sky, they were a vibrant, pale blue, like those that sirens possessed, only more beautiful somehow. She was the embodiment of perfect beauty. Of course, she was smart too, as sharp as the quill Lily wrote with, but had as much common sense as it. Claire had a tendency to act blonde at times, having about as much common sense and logic as a pencil eraser, but that's what made her so endearing. There was one thing about Claire, though, that bugged Lily; she had a crush on Sirius.

"Come on, … Evans, just … drop it," said Sirius in between laughs.

"Shut up, Sirius Black, I do not want to hear your voice right now," said Lily spitefully. Sirius flinched back at the venom of her voice and backed a step away. Remus seemed to be the only one with enough sense to shut up, and Peter was too scared of Lily to move. When Lily was mad, no on tried to talk her out of or into anything, especially out of pummeling James Potter with muggle dueling techniques. James winced as Lily raised her right fist, clutching James's tie in her left and was about to punch him in the face when Professor McGonagall caught her arm and held her back.

"Both of you," she began. "Detention, tonight, my office," she finished with a disappointed look to Lily. This was the first time Lily retaliated, the first time she wanted to fight back, and the first time she'd ever had detention. "Mr. Potter, I presume you are the reason behind the missing giant slugs from Professor Kettleburn." James nodded, putting his hands in his pockets and relaxing after Lily had lowered her fist, jaw dropping to the ground and releasing James's tie. Professor McGonagall walked away, shaking her head angrily and muttering something about getting along.

"So, Evans, look like you just got your first ever detention, how doest it feel?" asked Sirius is a faux announcer's voice.

"Shut up, Black, I've already had enough of you," she said spitefully before walking off to the common room. Her last period was a free period and so was Remus's. This would give Lily a chance to rant and scream about James and Remus sit there and listen to every word of it, actually paying attention to Lily's rants. Remus shrugged to Claire and to his friends before following her out of the great hall. Claire rolled her eyes at James. He knew better than to levitate slugs above her head, and he knew she would fight him for that one. He wanted her to get detention with him. James had definitely become desperate.

When Lily got to the common room, she threw herself on the couch with a the coffee table in front of it and shoved her face into a red pillow, crying and screaming furiously. The tears of her rage soaking the pillow furiously. Remus came in and sat at her feet, rubbing her back comfortingly. Lily sat up, her gorgeous green eyes still burning with rage.

"I cannot believe that stupid Potter!" she nearly screamed. Remus, knowing Lily as well as he did, like a sister, wasn't surprised by this reaction at all. Lily had never gotten a detention in her life and she wanted to be Head Girl next year. It was too hard and too much for her all at once.

"He is the biggest, pompous bastard I've ever had the displeasure of meeting. That stupid prat always strutting around and now this, those were flesh-eating slugs, FLESH-EATING! He could have hurt me very badly with that, how would he feel if they had devoured me alive? Well, at least I'd be free of his tormenting!" she shouted, pacing around the common room and receiving plenty of stares from other students. "And NOW of all times, I get my first detention, and in only an hour and a half! I CAN'T have detention, I just can't, Remus."

"Lily, I understand how angry you are and believe me, I know, James is an idiot, but please, calm down or you'll get into more trouble," pleaded Remus. Lily crossed her arms, shot him a melting glare and flopped down on the couch next to him. "Lils, please, James is stupid, James is an idiot and a complete and total bastard. I completely understand your rage."

"You should, he is your best friend after all."

"Lils, what I'm saying is that you need to calm down and get back at him." Lily looked at him, intense curiosity in her eyes. Then it turned to suspicion.

"What're you getting out of this?" she asked suspiciously.

"Lils, I'm staying neutral, but believe me, James will get Sirius to help unless you scare him as badly as you scare Peter." Lily thought about it again, but knew she didn't want to sink to his level.

"I can't do it, Remus. I don't want to be like James," she said softly, leaning against him, he head falling to his shoulder. She sighed. Remus was like her brother, close enough that James would never think he would try something and Remus would never, ever try something and Lily was the same way. "I hate him so much. You know why I've never had a boyfriend?"

"No," Remus admitted, shaking his head.

"He hexes any guy who gets closer than three feet to me except for you because he knows you better. If any guy flirts with me, he'd probably punch his lights out and then hex him into next Tuesday." Remus thought about it for a moment, realizing she was right, she sighed and stood up.

"Lils, I know James can be…overbearing, but please, try not to kill him during detention. Promise me that I won't find my friend dead in the morning."

"I…promise," she said reluctantly.

"Thanks, Lils," said Remus. He sounded genuinely relieved. It was a good thing Lily promised too, because she truly might have actually killed James. She spent the rest of the period trying to get homework done, but in her agitated state, it was impossible. She decided to go upstairs and wash the slime out of her hair. By the time she came back down, it was dry and she was still angry.

"I gotta go to _detention_, Remus," she said spitefully by the time the period ended. She found her way to McGonagall's room and she told them they'd be cleaning the trophies. Lily, completely aggravated by now, refused to speak to James for the first ten minutes, and he was constantly trying to get her to say something.

"Come on, Evans," he said kindly. "Why won't you go out with me?" Lily just dusted the trophy she was at, polished it, and moved to the next one. "I can't stop annoying you if I don't know what I'm doing wrong." She rounded on him now.

"Don't know?" she asked, completely agitated. "You don't know why I won't say yes? Think about it, Potter."

"Oh come off it, Evans."

"Come off what? James you are the most…argh!" She couldn't even frame a civil conversation without screaming.

"You know you like me," he said with a grin. He leaned forward and was about to kiss her, Lily wasn't expecting this, and this was crossing the line now. Lily mustered all her force and walked up to him, smacking him across the face. Lily tapped the trophy case with the wand she had hidden and everything was clean. Then, she stormed from the room shaking her head. She had kept her promise, James wasn't dead, but he wasn't going to forget that.

As Lily stormed away, James stood there, awestruck, touching his cheek where Lily had smacked him. It had hurt, badly, and he had no idea where it came from. He had been making jokes like that to girls all the time and they'd swoon and admit it, but Evans was one different story and he knew that. He seriously thought something was wrong with her.

Lily stormed up to the common room, practically yelled at the Fat Lady when she kept asking what her problem was, and stormed into the common room. You could easily see how angry she was. All heads turned in her direction: Sirius's, Remus's, Claire's, and Peter's, and Tanya's (they were the only ones still awake by then…it was around midnight.)

"Don't ask," she muttered angrily, storming up the steps to the girls' common room.

"What do you think happened?" asked Remus, looking around the room. Claire looked up from her homework.

"Your idiot friend probably did something else to make her mad, duh," she said rudely.

"Claire, don't be mad at Remus, he didn't do anything," said Tanya, defending Remus. Tanya was almost as tight with Remus as Lily was, practically best friend material.

"I was talking to that oaf over there," said Claire, nodding towards Sirius.

"Hey!" said Sirius, shocked by her comment. Sirius would never admit that he liked Claire and Claire would never admit she liked him.

"Shut up," said Remus acidly, glaring at both of them.

"Sorry, Moony," said Sirius apologetically.

"Sorry, Rem," said Claire.

"Don't worry about it," replied Remus, looking down at his book again. Just then, James stumbled into the room, a bright red handprint still emblazoned on his cheek. The whole side of his face was red, even his eye was bloodshot. She really hit him hard. James wondered how much it would've hurt if she had hit him in the Great Hall earlier that day. Sirius stifled a laugh and tried to look comforting. Remus raised his eyebrows. Tanya snickered a bit and Claire rolled her eyes, looking back down at her homework.

"She hit me!" he said, seemingly surprised.

"We can tell," said Sirius, still fighting back a laugh. She looked pretty pissed when she came in here too. She already went upstairs. If I were you, I'd avoid her for a few days, maybe a month, depending on what you said to her. What did say to her?"

"Nothing," he lied.

"Prongs, what did you do?" asked Remus disapprovingly.

"Okay, I may have toed the line a bit," he said, then told them what he said and did to make her so angry.

"A little bit?" asked Claire exasperatedly. "Potter, you tried to kiss her!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I know it was stupid and irrational-" Claire interrupted him loudly, snapping shut her textbook.

"More than that, you idiot! You know she hates you and it's stupid and irrational just like everything else you do. I cannot believe you could be such an idiot. James Potter, you are hopeless, Lily's never gonna like you if you keep acting like that." She grabbed her bookbag and stormed up the stairs. Tanya looked to Remus and shrugged, getting up and following her friends. This bold statement jolted James to his senses, having never realized that maybe what he does might not be a great way to get Lily's attention, because that's all he wanted. He didn't like seeing her mad, she was frightening when she was mad, but she was paying attention to him when she was.

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A/N: So, what do you think of the first chapter. The second one should be interesting too. Review please!


	2. This Means War, Evans

A/N: Wow, only two reviews, how touching you guys. Thought you'd want to know why James stopped acting like an idiot, but I could be wrong. I'll jeep writing anyway, just cuz I love this story line. So, review please if you read this because this story is lonely. To the two people who reviewed this chapter, this chapter is dedicated to you: Fairy Love and Whiskeygurl007

Disclaimer: Yeah, I don't own anyone unless you don't recognize them!

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It was the first time James had ever realized he had crossed some invisible line, and he, for some unbeknownst reason to even himself, wanted to apologize. After Claire and Tanya had followed Lily up the stairs, he waited for about an hour, thinking of some way to get up the girls' staircase. He walked over to the steps and he could feel the eyes of Wormtail, Moony, and Padfoot on him. He turned to look at them and held a finger over his lips as a sign for them to be quiet. He transformed into a stag and trotted up the stairs as quietly as he possibly could.

Lily was too angry to fall asleep. About an hour after she got up there, Tanya and Claire and the rest of the girls in her dorm had already drifted off and were dozing heavily. Lily just sat on the edge of her bed, fully clothed and not tired, but undeniably angry. She was raging a war in her head. Part of what had happened she wasn't sure about it, but every instinct in her mind told her that she hated James. As she sat there, arguing with herself, she heard steps coming up the staircase. Weird, everyone was already up there. She pulled her wand from her pocket and walked towards the door.

James heard footsteps approaching the door and changed back into human form, leaning casually against the wall. The door flung open and Lily was pointing her wand directly at him.

"How did you get up here with the alarm and everything?" she asked suspiciously.

"That's for me to know and you not to find out," said James coolly, leaning inside the dorm to see inside. "Wow, your dorms are way nicer than ours, but you guys probably try to keep it cleaner."

"Shut up and stop with the small talk, what do you want, Potter?" she asked angrily. "I still am mad at you."

"Which is why I came to apologize, Evans," he said kindly pushing her wand down with his index finger. Lily was struck dumb. He had never apologized, he had never admitted to regretting something before…what was different now?

"Why?" she asked suspiciously.

"Because I realized that…maybe what I did might have been wrong, way overstepping the line that I usually go to which is simply asking you out. I actually tried something and I am truly sorry for that." He was whispering and although he would deny that he never wanted anyone else to hear, it was true and Lily could tell.

"So, you really mean it?" she asked, her eyes softening the slightest touch.

"Yes, Evans, I truly mean it. Do you want to come talk…maybe we can figure out why we're always hating each other." After he had admitted he was sorry, Lily, for some strange reason, wasn't mad at him anymore.

"I guess," she said, putting her wand back into her pocket and walking back into her dorm for a second. "I'll be down in a second, I just need to get a drink."

'_Perfect'_ thought James, changing into a stag and trotting back down the steps triumphantly. Lily was down in a few seconds with Claire on her heels whispering words they could only catch in phrases like 'I can't believe you're doing this.' Lily shook her head and went to sit on one of the single-person chairs while James took the couch across from her. Claire sat next to Remus on the floor and Sirius and Peter were watching anxiously form the table in the corner.

"So, what do you want to talk about, Potter?" asked Claire spitefully.

"Claire, calm down, he apologized, remember?" asked Lily, trying to defend James.

"Did Lily just stick up for James?" asked Peter, honest shock in his voice.

"I think so, Wormtail…I think so," said Sirius, the same tone covering his voice.

"Oh be quiet, both of you," said Lily angrily, blushing.

"Sorry, Evans," said Sirius sarcastically.

"So, Evans, why do we hate each other?" asked James, looking to her with curiosity in his eyes.

"Well, should I go first with why I hate you?"

"Why not."

"Well, you hex any boy who gets closer to me than like three feet and punch anyone who gets closer than that. You are constantly asking me out and it really does get on my nerves, and the pranks just to get my attention drive me crazy, and what's with the last name basis?" she urged angrily. James flinched, his charming smile faltering slightly, but he kept it in place. He pursed his lips and thought about it for a moment.

"Well…I only hex and punch the guys who go near you because I am an arrogant, jealous ass. I ask you out because I think you are too beautiful for words and your personality is even better…and I think you like it sometimes. The pranks are for the reason of getting your attention and I want your attention for the things I just said. The last name basis is your own fault, you called me Potter first. Now the reasons I hate you are these: You say no when I ask you out and you ignore me, and you've recently found a way to cause me physical pain by hitting me."

"Well, you deserved it," she said angrily.

"I admit, I did deserve it. But what of the other things?"

"I say no because you play pranks and hex people and because of all the reasons I said earlier for disliking you. I ignore you only because if I don't speak to you, you can't ask me out. It's a vicious circle, you realize this?"

"Yes, I did a long time ago."

"Lily," Claire whined drowsily. "Please can we go to sleep now?"

"You go up, I think I'll be fine now," said Lily softly. Claire stood up, her nightgown dragging on the ground. Lily noticed Sirius's eyes linger on her for more than they should have for two people who thought they hated each other.

"So, what's the solution then?" asked James.

"I have no idea," sighed Lily, shaking her head.

"I do," said Remus from the corner. "Be friends." Lily and James both shook their heads furiously. Being friends would mean Lily would have to call him by his first name and they would have to have civilized conversation. Being friends would mean that James could never date her and he would end up miserable. "Fine, be acquaintances."

"Okay," said Lily softly. "But here are the rules, I can still call you Potter if I want to or it slips and I don't want you asking me out anymore or playing pranks. We can have conversations and talk to each other like civilized adults, but that's it."

"Here's mine, you cannot ignore me, and I won't ask you out, promise. We have to get along and no more hitting me. I promise I won't stand between you and boys again either. Oh, and I can call you Lily even if you call me Potter. Deal?"

"Deal," said Lily.

"So, my name is James Potter, and you are?" he asked playfully. If they were starting over, they had to truly start over.

"Lily Evans, nice to meet you, _James_," she answered, her face flushing.

"Well, Lily, I think we could make great acquaintances," said James, the playful grin not leaving his face.

"I agree," said Lily, a smile creeping slowly onto her lips. Oh, but one other thing, no more coming up the stairs unless you tell me how you do it."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, we just met after all," said James, still as playful as ever. He was good at evading questions that he didn't want to answer. Lily raised her eyebrows. A silent conversation went between Sirius, Remus, and maybe Peter if he was actually paying attention.

"Well, Prongsie, I think it's time we went upstairs and went to sleep. It's like one in the morning and we have classes tomorrow. I want as much sleep as I can get," said Sirius, standing up.

"Right, mate, and never call me Prongsie again," said James, standing up off the couch. He walked over to Lily and extended his hand. "It was nice meeting you, Lily." Lily took his hand and shook it.

"You too, Potter," she said before standing up and climbing her own staircase. Sirius let out a bark of laughter before climbing the stairs himself. When the four boys got up there, they changed and began talking.

"How long do you think this'll last?" asked Sirius with his mischievous grin.

"Not long," said James, unsure of his own bet. "I won't be able to not ask her out and not prank her, you guys know that. She'll have difficulty ignoring me, and that'll be the end of that deal right there."

"Give yourselves some credit, you two just had a civilized conversation without killing one another," said Remus.

"That's true, but I still think it won't last long, mates," said James.

"You don't want it to last, admit it," said Remus angrily.

"Okay, fine. I can't stand not trying to get her attention, it's in my nature and it's also in my nature to ask her out. It's a thing of pride, Moony, she's the only girl who's ever turned me down."

"Oh, and id has nothing to do with the fact that you like her," said Remus.

"I don't like her…not in that way," said James spitefully. Sirius and Remus looked at him incredulously. "Oh, sod off." He pulled his blankets over his head and tried to fall asleep, the same things running through his mind. He would never admit that he actually liked Lily Evans, that everything he had said was the truth, and nothing could change that, nothing would make him admit to the fact that those penetrating eyes had penetrated him. Not even Sirius, Remus, and Peter could know, it would be too embarrassing. James Potter did not have crushes; it just wasn't something that happened to him. Of course, everyone said that Sirius Black didn't have crushes and he was always staring at Claire when she wasn't looking and doing that thing guys do…pretending to hate her so that it would hide the fact that he liked her. Poor Sirius, Claire really hated him for it too. Sirius didn't know that James and Remus knew about his crush, and they were too afraid to tell him about how obvious it was.

When Lily got to class the next morning at Defense Against the Dark Arts, she sat in her usual seat between Claire and Tanya, James sat directly behind her in his usual seat, Sirius and Remus on either side of him and Peter next to Sirius. Lily felt something hit the back of her head lightly and picked up the small folded piece of paper that fell onto her notebook. She opened it up.

_Lily will you go out with me?_

The Ever Important, James 

Needless to say that Lily was infuriated and she picked up the note, writing no in big, bold letters and threw the note at James, casting a weighing charm that made it a touch heavier. It hit James in the forehead and knocked him backwards off his chair. Lily turned around, an innocent expression on her face.

"Watch out for those chairs, they can slip if you lean back too far," she said sweetly. Tanya and Claire looked at each other, biting back the laughter that was about to erupt form their mouths. James scrambled to his feet, glaring at Lily. She smiled back triumphantly and the teacher had turned around by now and everyone was staring at the now embarrassed James.

"Mr. Potter, please sit down," urged their teacher. James cringed and picked up his chair and sat back in it.

"Mate, what was that about?" asked Sirius. A few girls sighed softly and Sirius looked around the room and winked. Claire rolled her eyes and picked up her quill, taking notes as the teacher continued his lecture.

"Evans threw some enchanted paper at me and it knocked me off the chair," answered James, picking the note up off the ground. He read it and glared at Lily again.

"Prongs," said Remus angrily. "What ever happened to the whole acquaintance thing?" James ignored him and wrote something on the paper, casting a weighing charm on it himself and chucked it at Lily. It hit her in the back of the head, hard, and she picked it up off the floor and read it.

_This means war, Evans._

She glared at him again and wrote Fine in large letters at the bottom. She threw the paper at James and it hit him in the eye this time. He read it and glared back at her again. She pretended not to notice and listened to the teacher talking. When they got out of class, Lily told Tanya and Claire what had happened.

"That prat!" shouted Claire.

"That's aggravating," said Tanya. "What are you going to do…what does he mean war? I'm scared, Lily."

"Me too, but don't repeat that. I think it might be a silent treatment thing…he wants to see who can hold out the longest, maybe…and he'll probably be trying to get me fight back every step of the way…this is gonna suck," said Lily angrily. James walked past, his shoulder knocking into Lily and her books falling to the ground. She glared at his back as Remus and Sirius, SIRIUS! both turned around and came to help her pick them up.

"Sorry about him," said Sirius kindly. "Don't tell him about this, okay, ladies?" he asked, handing Lily the last of her books.

"He'd kill us he knew we wanted you to get back at him. So, this is what's going on…James wants you two to start pranking each other like mad and you probably won't be talking to each other the entire time," explained Remus, helping Lily off her knees and onto her feet.

"So, you're gonna need some expert help," finished Sirius.

"What's in it for you?" asked Lily suspiciously.

"Well, for one thing, we want to see Prongs get a taste of his own medicine. I have to say, Evans, it's pretty funny watching you get pranked, but James is going the wrong way to make you like him and we want him to realize that," said Sirius.

"So, you'll help us?" asked Claire, seeing Sirius in a slightly different light, but her voice was still spiteful.

"Of course, Martin, why wouldn't we?" asked Sirius, just as spitefully.

"I don't trust them," said Claire angrily.

"Remus is one of our best friends, Claire, calm down," said Tanya, shaking her head and sighing.

"Okay," sighed Lily. "So, you'll help me find out what he's doing?"

"Ah, that we cannot do. Marauder code says not to reveal any sort of prank being instituted to the enemy of any Marauder. But, we can help you come up with a few creative things for your own pranks, okay?" asked Sirius.

"Deal," said Lily, extending her hand. "On one condition, you promise not to tell James what we do and such, just in case your loyalties may change."

"Deal, Evans," said Sirius, shaking her hand.

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A/N: And now the fun begins…haha, this story is going to rock so much it'll be hilarious. Okay, I cannot wait to write the next chapter. I should have it out by next weekend, so read and review and I love you guys who actually do that!


	3. Jealousy

A/N: You guys are so awesome, keep reading. Oh, for those who think this is their seventh year, you're wrong; it's the sixth as in the prequel to the story in which I have the seventh one. This is the year when James stops acting like a total immature four-year-old!

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"What are we supposed to do?" asked Claire as her, Sirius, Lily, Tanya, and Remus walked to their next class.

"Well, Remus has always done the research, so I guess he'll be doing that, and since Claire is always good with that stuff too, she'll be helping him. Tanya, Lily, and I will execute the prank, understood?" asked Sirius.

"No," said Remus. "We can't be at the scene of the prank or else James might suspect us. Tanya and Lily can be the only ones there, so, Sirius, you'll be helping Claire and I research, got it?" asked Remus.

"I have to work with him?" asked Claire angrily.

"I have to work with her?" asked Sirius…equally angry.

"Yes," said Remus simply.

"No, no, no, no," said Claire quickly. "Remus we'll have killed each other in seconds if you force us into this."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take," said Remus. Tanya turned to Remus.

"My bet's on Claire coming out on top, you?" she whispered.

"I'm gonna have to agree, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," Remus quoted. "And we both know Sirius'll do something incredibly stupid, that's just how he is."

"Yeah," sighed Tanya.

"So, any classic ideas or anything?" asked Lily.

"That's another thing…we can't use Marauder ideas or James will be suspecting us, so, once again, we need original things," said Remus thoughtfully.

"Albright, pranks go on embarrassment, correct?" asked Lily.

"Yeah," said Sirius, turning to her.

"Well, what embarrasses a guy most?" asked Lily.

"Well…there are very few things. Having a worst fear exposed, especially when it's a stupid thing to be scared of. Another is being embarrassed publicly stripped of manliness or, in other words, wearing something pink or frilly, you know the things grandmothers knit and are never worn," explained Sirius. "There's also being turned down by a girl in front of a huge crowd, but you've already accomplished that one, Evans."

"So, mark that one off the list and let's get to planning," said Claire thoughtfully. "Next period we all go to the library and try to get something we can have a foundation for."

"Sounds good to me," said Sirius without looking at her. So, after class, they all escaped to the library, seeing as they all had a free period. They looked through book after book after book, but they continually came to the same thing. Make James go crazy by making him jealous. He would, of course retaliate badly, but it was definitely worth it. The only problem was, what guy would be willing to risk his neck just to do a favor for Lily?

"We need to think of someone who isn't too smart, who is really good-looking, who James would never think Lily could be with, and someone who it would make crazy to know she's dating," explained Sirius. Everyone turned to look at him, it was perfect, he was perfect. James would never expect his best friend to go behind his back and do something like that. It was a prank after all and technically they wouldn't be going out. The only people who didn't like the idea were Sirius and Claire.

"C'mon, Sirius, it's the perfect ploy. You wouldn't really be going out with her, just a spoof, you know?" explained Remus.

"As much as I hate Sirius, I have to agree with this plan," said Lily thoughtfully.

"Hey!" objected Sirius.

"I hate you, and you know it, it's the truth of life and you hate me, so we're even," explained Lily.

"I…I think it's a good idea," submitted Claire at last. Sirius looked at her with severe distaste.

"Fine," he snapped quietly. They decided to start tomorrow (Saturday), before James could get anything in and it would be perfection. This was going to be great.

"Alright," began Remus the next morning. "You two need to be convincing, no disliking each other at all. You two better be great actors."

"Moony, when you've lived with my parents, you learn to act," laughed Sirius.

"When you visit your muggle friends, you learn to act," said Lily jokingly. They made their way to the Great Hall and Lily sat next to Sirius. They waited for James to enter the Great Hall, and as soon as he did, Remus gave the signal. Lily immediately got a flirtatious look in her eye and ran her fingers through Sirius's hair, whispering something in his ear as close as a person could possibly get. James slammed his fist on the table and sat down angrily.

"What the bloody hell is this?" he demanded.

"I was just telling Sirius how amazing he looks today," sighed Lily. James gave Remus a questioning look and Remus simply shrugged. Tanya was trying not to laugh, but it probably wouldn't have mattered if she did or not because James was to preoccupied watching Lily and Sirius. Lily eyes had narrowed cutely and she was whispering in Sirius's ear again. Sirius had that signature smile of his glued to his face and James was fuming. After about five minutes, James slammed his fist on the table again.

"You were my best mate, and you…!" he trailed off, pointing at Lily. "You're just terrible!" Lily winked at him and then looked back to Sirius. She was definitely a good actor, but acting was all she was doing, nothing more, nothing less. Sirius was the same way. When James stormed out of the Great Hall looking like someone had just murdered his best friend, Lily turned around and looked back at her food.

"I have to say, Evans, you're a pretty good actress," sneered Sirius.

"I could say the same about you," she replied haughtily. Claire couldn't help but laugh this time and Tanya was bottling it up again. Remus was just shaking his head like he didn't know any of them. When they finished eating, they went up to the common room and began planning their next idea.

"I think the best thing is to have James catch them doing something more than just flirting like crazy," said Tanya.

"I agree," agreed Remus.

"You've got to be kidding!" shouted Lily exasperatedly.

"Yeah, what she said!" whined Sirius.

"Look, I think the best we can do is have him catch you two in a broom cupboard together. You guys don't have to do anything, but make it look convincing when he opens the door," said Remus thoughtfully.

"I'm a prefect, I'm supposed to discourage things like that! I'm supposed to send kids that do crap like that to detention," said Lily angrily.

"Which is why you can slip past the rules," said Remus with a very Sirius-like grin.

"Moony, you've got to be kidding," said Sirius with an angry glint in his eye. "James is mad enough at me as it is right now. He probably expects me to come crawling back to him asking for forgiveness. Lily is and will always be his – "

"Hey!" interjected Lily. "I am no one's property!"

"So says you. James thinks you're his and that's why anyone who gets within two feet of you gets hit with something," replied Sirius.

"Sirius," Remus warned him. Sirius was making his way into dangerous territory and everyone knew it, especially Lily.

"No, Moony, she should know the truth. James thinks he owns you and that if any other guy touches you it's like…I don't know, like a Gryffindor rooting for Slytherin in Quidditch," explained Sirius.

"Shut up!" shouted Lily. "I'm gonna kill him!" She stood up and marched out of the common room. Lily turned back and Sirius was stuffing a piece of paper in his pocket.

"He's at the lake, Evans!" Sirius shouted after her. She didn't look back, but made her way to the lake in amazing anger. Her face was practically as red as her hair out of anger and she was so mad that she didn't know if she could resist hitting James again or not. She stormed out onto the grounds and James scrambled to his feet when he saw her coming, his hand jumping into his hair immediately.

"What the bloody hell is your problem?" she asked angrily.

"I could ask you the same question, Evans," he said angrily.

"What are you babbling about?" she asked angrily.

"You and my best mate. You conniving little bitch!" he snapped. Lily snapped at these words too. No one ever said something like that to her; it was going too far. Her hand rose like a coiled snake and struck him across the face, leaving a handprint emblazoned upon his face once again. It stung more than the other one. She was clearly angrier than last time too.

"I cannot believe you think I am your property, you ass!" she yelled, smacking him again. "And calling me a bitch didn't make it any better!" She smacked him a third time. "And Sirius and I aren't even dating, we wanted to make you angry by pretending to date so that you would give up on this stupid war." She went to smack him again, but he caught her hand as it neared his face.

"Evans, shut up!" he yelled. She tried to strike him with her other hand, but he caught it too. He was holding both of her wrists like manacles. His grip was amazingly strong and she couldn't break free of him. She struggled, but he wasn't letting go.

"What!" she snapped.

"Why would you torture me like that?" he asked. His tone immediately changed to something sad and lonely, something that made Lily sad just hearing. Her guilt swelled in her chest and felt like a boulder. "How could you, Lily?" he asked. He seemed on the verge of almost crying. Lily had never seen James act like this before.

"James, I…I didn't now that…I'm sorry," she whispered softly, looking at the ground. James put his hand under her chin and lifter her face up to look into his eyes. She really did look sorry. Sorrier than James had ever seen her for something she had done to him.

"Lily, you know I adore you more than any other girl I've ever met. I can't comprehend why, but you're amazing to me. You're perfect to me," he said softly. Not breaking away from her emerald eyes. It was like trying to stare down death.

"James, I don't want to date you, why can't you just accept that and move on? Why can't we be friends? Why can't we just get along?" she asked with a sigh,

"You called me James," he said softly. "So, friends?" he asked, backing away from her and holding out his hand. She took it.

"Friends, and this time, I will personally make you life hell if you _ever _break a deal like this again," she threatened.

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A/N: Aww, how sweet. So, James is growing up, about time, he was being so immature! So, read and review because we all know you guys love me!


	4. A Brilliant Ruse

A/N: So, like it so far? I hope so, because I am having fun with this one. So, let's continue, shall we?

Disclaimer: I only own the ladies and guys and stuff like that that you don't recognize. Everything else belongs to the amazingly talented JK Rowling.

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Lily and James walked back to the castle in silence for the first bit of the walk. When Lily looked up at him, the cold biting her bare arms, she saw the red handprints across his face.

"Sorry for that," she whispered softly.

"I deserved it, but Padfoot may deserve it more," he said with a small grin. "Hey, Evans," he began.

"Yes?" she asked, dreading the question she knew was coming.

"Um…do you think we should go and tell the others that this whole prank thing is over?" asked James. Lily's eyes grew wide she could practically feel them bulging out of her head. Then, she became her playful self again.

"I think we should stay away from them for a while. Just long enough so that they think I might have actually killed you," she joked. Something was different about them, they didn't hate each other, but they didn't love each other either. They were still at each other's throats, but it was different, more playful.

"Like you could actually kill me, Evans," snorted James.

"Wanna bet, Potter?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"So, what can I do to actually get you to be a true friend, Evans?" he asked after about five more minutes, his hand rumpling his hair even worse.

"Stop hexing little kids in the halls for starters, and stop messing your hair up more than it is," she snapped. His hand flew back down to his side. "Stop asking me out more than once per day, and the staring should probably stop. And the pranks, puh-lease stop with those, but I only want them to stop on me, the others can, _at_ _times_, be funny."

"I guess I could try," he said quietly.

"That's all I'm asking," she said, equally silent.

"So, you really think you could hurt me?" he asked jokingly.

"Yes, actually, I do. Wanna know why? Because I'm smarter, brains over brawn, Potter, brains over brawn," she laughed.

"I wouldn't day you're smarter, you probably have more logical thinking and common sense than me though," he laughed.

"Well, everyone knows that," she smirked. They started walking again, James with his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket and Lily shivering because she was still wearing her cap-sleeved top.

"Did we just have a civilized conversation?" asked Lily after a few more minutes of silence.

"I think we did," James joked. He looked down at Lily and saw the goose bumps on her arms. "Are you cold, you look cold."

"A little," she shrugged, stuffing her hands in the pockets of her tight, flair jeans.

"Why didn't you say something? Here," he began shrugging out of his jacket and pushed it into Lily's hands.

"James, no, you'll be cold," she said softly.

"So, I have long-sleeves on, you are an idiot wearing a short-sleeved shirt in the middle of winter," he joked. She took the jacket from him, glaring at him anyway. He placed his hand over his chest as though hurt.

"Oh shut up," she snapped, trying not to crack a smile. She pulled the jacket on, but it was far too big. It went down past her butt and her arms didn't reach the ends of the sleeves and she had to push them back with her hands in hope of actually being able to hold her wand if such an occasion would arise in which she'd need it.

"So, I think we should put on an act for the rest of them, what do you think? Just for the first couple of days. I'm sure we could make it _very_ convincing," James joked.

"Nothing really has changed, after all, it's not like we can just pick up and be friends, Potter," she said, a smirk on her face. "But, I think, since we've decided to at least be civil to one another, that we should put on an act for a while and then act like everything's okay in a few days should be funny to watch them squirm with anger when they think we'll never be friends."

"So, yelling at each other when we enter the common room and storming off to opposite dormitories?" suggested James.

"Sounds good to me," she laughed.

"Hey, Evans," he began.

"Oh, what now," she groaned.

"Will you go out with me?" he asked, a smirk planted on his face. She punched him lightly on the arm.

"No," she said with a grin. He placed a hand over his heart again with a fake look of sadness. Something was different this time, it wasn't really much of an embarrassment, but more flattering, and she seemed to enjoy the faux shock look on his face when she turned him down now. She thought it was funny. They walked back up to the castle in silence. Lily was still angry about what Sirius had said, true or not, and she didn't want to bring it up in case she might blow up. When they got to the top of the staircase, they made sure anyone in the common room would hear them.

"I cannot believe you think I'm your property!" Lily shouted, a look of anger glued to her face. James really was intimidated by the glare coming from her emerald green eyes that could melt the soul of anyone who wasn't able to laugh at an approaching lion that wanted to eat you, which James could, seeing as he ran around with a werewolf every month.

"Well, you should never have made a move on my best mate, you whore!" James yelled as loud as he could.

"Oh, whatever you immature little bastard, I hate you," Lily yelled back.

"Ms. Evans, Mr. Potter," came McGonagall's voice from behind them. "I do not condone the use of such language in this facility. Detention, Monday night, come to my classroom." She stalked off before turning around again. "And, ten points from Gryffindor each."

"Ten points, detention?" whined Lily. How had she managed to get two detentions in the course of about three or four days? She threw James his coat so as not to give anything away when they entered the common room.

"Calm down, Evans, you'll be fine," James whispered, putting the coat back on. "We have an act to keep up after all."

"Oh yeah," she whispered, before moving to a more threatening voice. "You lying jerk!"

"Ha, like that means something to me, Evans. I can't believe you hit me!"

"You deserved it!" she yelled. "Peruvian Vipertooth," she said quietly to the portrait of the Fat Lady, who swung open to admit them. Remus was shaking his head in disapproval, taking in the three handprints across James's face. Then, he saw Lily's smoldering eyes, her red face that matched her hair, and the clear anger tattooed across her furrowed brow. Tanya was sitting in the corner, her homework out and working on it, eyebrows raised, but still looking at the Transfiguration textbook, but her eyes weren't moving. Sirius and Claire both looked on the verge of laughing, but were hiding it exceptionally well, considering they were the giggliest people in the school besides the girls who giggled whenever Sirius walked by.

"I hate you, Potter!" she finished with a bang. She stormed up the girls staircase, trying not to bust up laughing. She was a good actress.

"Same goes for you, Evans!" James yelled up the stairs after her. He threw himself on the unoccupied couch in front of the coffee table. He laid back on it, his hand behind his head, looking up at the ceiling.

"Bad first date?" laughed Sirius, finally unable to keep it all in.

"Shut up, Padfoot," said James, grabbing one of the pillows and throwing it at Sirius. Claire was cracking up, rolling on the floor laughing. Her short, pleated skirt was, on occasion, going up and showing her underwear. Sirius was watching her intently like the dog he was back then.

"Nice undies, Martin," he snickered.

"Padfoot," Remus warned. James was watching with interest to see what would become of his friend's fate, due to the fact that he was supposed to be pretending that he thought Lily and Sirius were dating. Claire stopped abruptly. Her eyes turned into a tiger's and she looked at Sirius with pure loathing hatred. She stood up and sauntered over to him, her grace unmatchable at this moment. When she was less than a foot away, she smacked him, hard, across the face. Sirius's hand automatically flew up to the side of his face, feeling the hurt, sore, mark that was there. He pulled his hand away and it was bleeding. One of her nails had scratched him, too. He looked at her, about to hit her back when Remus grabbed his hand, holding him back.

"We don't hit girls," said Remus warningly. This woke Sirius up, he had never hit a girl, hitting a girl was like stepping on a mouse just to see it squeak in pain, it was wrong and the only reason he had retaliated was because he was angry. He dropped his hand and threw Remus's grip off his arm and muttered a soft and almost inaudible sorry to Claire before walking upstairs and leaving them alone. Claire's eyes were wide open and shocked. She really though he would've hit her, and she would've expected him to. Maybe Sirius was different than she though, maybe he was a really good guy at heart.

"He deserved the slap, Martin," said James thoughtfully, laying back down on the couch with his hands behind his head. "After all, he is my best mate, he shouldn't be all over my girl."

"Oh my goodness, James!" Tanya said, snapping her book shut and causing the whole room to look at her in surprise. "She isn't yours!"

"Yeah, Potter, she is only your girl if you two are dating, and even if you were, that's not going to make her your property. She's with Sirius and Sirius likes her. He wasn't trying to make you angry," lied Claire. She stood up, brushing off the back of her mini skirt and sauntered over to the couch where James sat. She stretched her arm out and hit James on the forehead with the butt of her hand. "Wake up!" she said loudly. James shook his head from the impact. Claire could be tough when she wanted to be. She was always the latest gossip among the males of the school, every single one of them imagined being in love with her because she was so beautiful. Did none of them know how sweet a person she was too, how smart and caring. James grabbed her wrist, the sleeve of her shirt overtop if it (Claire always wore long sleeves for some reason), and stopped her from hitting him again.

"Stop it," he said angrily. "So, any new boyfriend, Claire?" he asked. There was no way Lily would tell him, and Tanya was busy with her homework. Claire was the only one of the trio ready for conversation.

"Yes, if you must know, I am dating a Ravenclaw as of this afternoon. His name is Jack Rowans," she replied with a grin, referring to the sandy-haired, muscled bad boy with the strangest and most alluring eyes she had ever seen. They were strange, on the outside of the iris, they were a hazel-ish color, and then they faded to a bluish green in the middle.

"Wait, that genius of a Quidditch captain?" asked James in shock. They were both the youngest Quidditch captains ever. James and he had both been selected that year, both of them sixth year students. Jack had proven to be one of the best strategy planners he had ever met. They had made so many plays with so many different signals for each, that James didn't even bother to try and remember them. On top of that, he was the hottest (probably from the whole bad-boy thing) guy in sixth year after Sirius, James, and Remus. James hated the guy.

"Yeah," she shrugged.

"For goodness sake, Claire, you're dating the enemy, we play them in a week. You better not do anything stupid for him," James aid through narrowed eyes.

"James, I love Quidditch more than anything, you think I would throw the game for some guy?" she asked with surprise. James had been on her team for four and half years now, he should know her better than that.

"Sorry forgot. I can't have my best flier, fastest chaser, and smartest player throwing games, I was worried, that's all," said James. Sirius was watching Claire form the stairs with a look of pure loathing on his face. He didn't hate her, not really; he hated this Jack fellow. Something was about to happen to him if Sirius ever saw the two of them together.

"He only wants your ass!" interjected Sirius, coming down the stairs. This was enough to make Claire want to kill him.

"Yeah, and why do you date other girls, it's definitely not personality that's got you hooked!" she shouted back at him. Sirius flinched back at the venom her could feel in her tone. Sirius turned away from her, not willing to face her. Claire gritted her teeth and ran up to the girls' dormitory, throwing herself on her bed crying. Lily had never seen Claire this upset in her entire time knowing her. Sirius had definitely said something very wrong this time.

Sirius was angry, angry at a few thing, first and foremost, himself, he had never said something like that to Claire, something that could be taken as protective and looking out for her, never. Them he was mad at this Jack kid because he knew him well enough to know what was going on. He had heard him talking about his girlfriend at lunch today. He had said the name Elizabeth Parelli, a Hufflepuff who was okay looking, but very, very curvy and very developed. She was definitely not a prude girl either. If Sirius was right, Rowans hadn't broken up with her yet. He had to find out for Claire, to keep her from getting hurt, and that brought around another hatred, a hatred of his feelings. He shouldn't care whether Claire got hurt. Sirius Black did not get crushes, did he?

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A/N: Ha ha, Sirius is about to kill someone, and everyone thinks that James and Lily are even madder at each other than usual. But at the same time, this is oh so adorable because Sirius is all protective of Claire and all, how sweet! This is hilarious I think. So, read, review, you know the drill!


	5. Addiction

A/N: Sorry about the forever and a half it took me to update. The homework was a massacre last week and I got New Moon by Stepehenie Meyer and had to read that, got it at 4 Friday, had it finished by 1 on Saturday. Oh, and I had my headshots for theatre on Saturday, so, I was busy, let's move along, shall we?

Disclaimer: Yeah, all the characters are JK Rowlings except the ones you don't recognize.

P.S. this chapter has a tendency to skip around a lot.

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"What do you want!" asked Claire angrily, trudging past Sirius with a look of pure malice across her face. Her voice, seething with rage.

"Why won't you listen to me?" asked Sirius, equally angry.

"You're telling me that my boyfriend, who I have been dating for two weeks now, is cheating on me!" she shouted. Everyone on the grounds was staring at her. It was almost the end of January, and the snow was beginning to melt. The contrast between the red of Claire's Gryffindor scarf, and the angry red of her face was comical. "Because he is!" Sirius shouted back at her.

"Sirius Black, leave me the hell alone, I hate you!" she yelled. She grabbed her Transfiguration textbook and threw it at him with enough force to sent him to the emergency room if he were a muggle. He dodged the book though, it falling into the snow. She picked it up, fuming. Then, she yanked out her wand and conjured a nice bat-bogey hex. She smiled to herself as she trudged away and Sirius was screaming.

_Earlier that Week_

Sirius was walking through the halls, minding his own business, completely after hours, when he noticed a very strange thing on the Marauders' Map. The dot labeled Jack Rowans was in an unused classroom with another dot named Camille Lawson. Okay, where did this player draw the line? Sirius noticed that the two dots were far too close for his comfort on the map, and it aggravated him. He ran up the corridors, the invisibility cloak flapping dangerously around his ankles. He opened the door to the deserted classroom, forgetting for a moment that he was invisible. Jack was not wearing a shirt, his perfectly toned and muscled chest was bare. Camille was not wearing a shirt either, but her bra was still on. Camille was a year younger than them, and not really exceptionally beautiful like Claire was. Camille was backed up against a wall, her lips had been pinned to Jack's seconds ago, and Jack's hands were on the wall on either side of her head, leaning close to her as he looked out the now open door. Sirius slapped himself internally for that thought. She had sandy hair that came to her shoulders in little curling ringlets. She wasn't very tan, and she had a lot of freckles on her face. She was definitely developed for fifteen though. Sirius stared at them, and they stared through him, thinking it was just some random thing in this very random castle where random doors open randomly. Sirius wanted to shout at them, to scream, to take a picture to prove it to Claire. Would she believe him? Probably not. When Jack had ascertained that no one was in the room, he walked over and shut the door again and the two continued their snog-fest.

For some reason that Sirius couldn't grasp, he wanted to kill Jack, at that moment, and nothing was ever changing that. He stalked off to the common room, throwing the cloak onto the couch. James gave him a questioning look. Sirius pulled the Marauders' Map from his pocket and threw it to James, a meaningful look on his face.

"Merlin's beard!" James said, trying to say it too loudly. The girls had fallen asleep on the chairs and James didn't want to wake them, least of all Claire. "Padfoot, this is getting out of hand. You've checked the map every night for the past week and he's been in that same classroom with a different girl each day. You have to do something, I know how you feel about Claire – "

"I don't feel anything about Claire!" Sirius snapped. James pursed his lips in disbelief. "Look, I just don't want her getting hurt. I bet these other girls don't even know. Some of them are young too. He was with a fifth year today. This was the first time I actually saw what they were doing." James didn't miss the changes in Sirius tone from pissed, to sad, to angry, to pure rage, and finally, disturbed.

"I think you should say something to Claire," James said more sternly.

"She'll bite my head off and you know it!" Sirius snapped. "She refuses to believe bad in anyone but us two and Remus, and I can't understand why. I'm a way better guy for her than that…" Sirius trailed off, he was getting too close to dangerous territory.

"Yeah, she will. But she'll bite your head off less when she's heartbroken and finds out that you kept something from her, something this huge," advised James. Sirius thought it over for a second and decided it would be best to tell her.

_Earlier that day (The day Claire said she hated Sirius and they got in a fight, not the day Sirius saw Jack cheating on Claire.)_

"Claire, can I talk to you for a second?" asked Sirius softly, sitting down across from Claire at the table in the library.

"Why, after all, guys only want me for my ass," she said acidly. Sirius immediately regretted saying that to her.

"No, please, this is serious," replied Sirius. Claire saw something in Sirius's eyes that was different, softer and kinder, a note of pure and undeniable sincerity and concern.

"Alright," she sighed, not being able to turn down those gorgeous gray eyes.

"I wanted to talk to you about Jack, the guy you're dating, or have been dating for a week or so now."

"Two weeks," she corrected. She had a slight hunch as to where this was going, and she didn't like that idea.

"Whatever," muttered Sirius. "I wanted to know how much you know about the guy?" he asked, suddenly very interested in her answer.

"Well…" she trailed off. Sirius looked at her triumphantly. "Okay, so we don't talk much, so what? You never talk to the girls you date. We mostly spend our time telling each other how beautiful the other one is, and kissing. I mean, he's a really nice guy if you knew him." Her cheeks were red, and Sirius knew he had hit a soft spot.

"How many girls has he done that with before?" asked Sirius, still and interested look on his face. Claire's eyes immediately narrowed, barely enough for Sirius to notice.

"Why?" she asked suspiciously.

"Just wondering," said Sirius, looking at his hands that were twining themselves around each other on top of the table.

"It's none of your business," she snapped.

"An estimate?" asked Sirius, still not looking up at her. He was remaining cool very well.

"Probably about twenty different ones just this year," she said, her eyes still narrowed.

"Has he told you he loves you?" asked Sirius, still looking at his hands. Claire's eyes narrowed even more, if she had had the dagger-eyes of Lily, Sirius was afraid he would have melted into a puddle on the ground by now.

"Yes," she said suspiciously, softly. Sirius smiled internally, he didn't like what Claire would have to be put through, but he was glad this was going as he wanted it too, she hadn't lost her temper yet.

"Claire," began Sirius, looking up into her eyes again. Those deceptively communicative eyes, why was Claire's stomach churning that way? Emotions were playing across his face faster than cards were played in a game of Slap Jack. Claire wanted to reach across the table and hit him for being so horrible, waiting until she got into a great relationship and then becoming hotter than usual, becoming a caring person. More than the urge to hit him though, was a strange impulse she didn't understand to lean forward and to kiss him. Little did she know that Sirius was experiencing the exact same impulse.

"Claire," he said her name again. "I…I think Jack is cheating on you." Claire waited a second for the "just kidding" but it didn't come. Then, she waited for the punch line, but that didn't come either. Something felt like it was pressing hard against her chest, crushing her to herself. She wanted to scream in the room, because she'd been feeling like he was cheating too, but too afraid to admit that a guy would actually cheat on her. He had come to see her everyday, a different and female scent clinging to his clothes, small traces of red or pink around the corners of his mouth. Once she even wiped off a smear of lipstick from his shirt collar. She knew he had been cheating, but she was not going to admit it, and the fact that Sirius knew, made her mad at him too.

"Sirius Black!" She screamed. Madam Pince came around the corner then, and slapped a detention into their hands for disturbing everyone. She pointed to the door of the library and had a stern countenance. Claire stood up angrily, slinging her backpack across her shoulder and leaving the room, rushing and flushing. This was the maddest Claire had ever been seen by anyone but Tanya and Lily. Sirius struggled to keep up with her as she stormed out onto the snowy grounds. They were screaming at each other now.

Later On 

Lily and James had told their friends of their little charade because they had begun to overhear threats from the others about locking the two in a room in order to sort our their childish problems. They had no choice truly. Claire and Sirius were different. It wasn't the usual ignoring thing that they did. Claire stared at Sirius like he was virus floating in front of her all of the time. Something taking up too much space that no one wanted around. Sirius looked back at her with those eyes again and just made her hate him more. She was constantly wondering when his eyes had changed from the cocky, beady things normally embedded in his sockets, to these beautiful and deep irises. Everytime she thought that, she kicked herself internally. Claire had continued to see Jack, despite the protests of all of her friends. She was slowly becoming depressed, and she wasn't realizing it. Self-destructive habits were ruling her daily life now. She would go swimming in the lake some days, as cold as it was. She would return with a big and hateful scowl on her face as though disappointed that it didn't solve her problems. Her grades were steadily declining and the professors were wondering if there had been a death in her family. She never spoke to anyone anymore, except for Lily. She refused to even speak to Tanya, because, as far as she was concerned, Tanya had dated Sirius once and was part of the problem.

"I can't stand this anymore!" Lily yelled, slamming her fist on the Great Hall table as everyone turned to look at her. It was Sunday, exactly one week after the argument between Sirius and Claire. Claire and Sirius had served their detention, Sirius not speaking, and Claire only glaring. No one was used to Lily having an outburst, but it seemed like this year was molding her into a different person. Claire hadn't been talking to anyone. Her averages in every class had dropped noticeably. She was moping around everywhere and she never smiled that outgoing and beautiful smile that used to light up rooms. Lily looked between Claire and Sirius, seeing no resolve in either of their eyes. She grabbed her bag and threw it over her should with almost as much anger as Claire had a week previously when she left the library. Lily stormed out of the Great Hall muttering the only words she knew in German and was sure that the teachers wouldn't understand: strings of profanities. Dumbledore had a bemused expression while watching them, he always did. Nothing ever made Dumbledore angry. Claire looked after Lily, trying to hold herself together. Was she really being that difficult to live with? Was she really worrying her friends. All of the sudden, Claire felt the tears in the corner of her eyes, and even that made her mad. She was slowly going insane, and she really didn't care anymore. She didn't care because she couldn't stop it now. She sent an owl to her older brother that night.

Lily and Claire had never had a falling out before, and they had vowed never to be like this, but it seemed impossible, Claire wouldn't talk to Lily and Lily wouldn't talk to Claire and Tanya was stuck in the middle of it all. Sirius and Claire still hated each other (actually, it was more Claire hating Sirius). Sirius felt bad, and wished he had never said anything to Claire now, which made him mad at James. So, James and Sirius were no longer talking and Remus was the sandwiched one here. No one seemed to have any sense anymore. Claire had begun to act differently. Lily noticed first, and then Sirius. She was starting to smile again, but it was an agonized smile. That was when Lily decided to search Claire's room one night. She pulled up a loose floorboard and saw cases upon cases of firewhiskey. A not from her brother was lying next to them all.

_Claire,_

_Tell Professor Slughorn I say hi. He was right to have you owl me for some free liquor. I can't wait to see you soon. Love you and until summer. I'll try and get you before Mum and Dad can, but I can't make any promises._

_Eric _

Lily had never met Eric, but he seemed just as careless as Claire had begun to act. He seemed just as much of a risk-taker as Claire had always been, and he seemed like a really nice guy too. It hit Lily that this wasn't meant for Slughorn. Claire had lied to her brother; she got this for herself. Claire was happy again because she was getting drunk. Lily grabbed one of the cases and the note and bolted into the common room. Claire was never around them anymore. She was always spending every waking minute with Jack. Lily thrust the firewhiskey into Sirius's hands and then held the note in front of his face. Sirius read the note quickly and with great precision.

"That stupid bitch, she's going to get herself killed and heartbroken all in one step!" yelled Sirius, throwing the case of firewhiskey onto the ground where it shattered and seeped into the carpet, eight of the bottles wasted now. Lily had tears streaming down her face. She knew Claire too well to get drunk and not do something stupid. She knew that if Claire was drunk and she was with Jack, something could end up stepping over lines. An idea burst into Sirius's head at that moment.

"Prongs, take this and find all of the girls we've seen with Rowans. Lily, meet us here in a few minutes. Sirius pointed to an unused classroom on a regular map of the school in his book. Lily nodded, running back upstairs to smash the rest of the bottles. About five minutes and a lot of sparks later, every bottle was smashed to bits. Claire, though, was already drunk right now. Lily ran to the classroom Sirius had pointed out. She skidded to a halt in front of it. Sirius was yelling at a very bloodied up Rowans while Claire was screaming at Sirius, but no sound was coming from her mouth because Sirius had silenced her.

Lily watched through the door. Claire was definitely drunk. She was swaying slightly just standing there and her eyes were incredibly bloodshot and weary-looking. Sirius opened the door and push Jack out into the hallway, shaking his head at Lily to tell her he wasn't ready for her to come in yet. Claire was wearing next to nothing. Sure, she had on her usual long-sleeved shirt, but it was the most low cut shirt she had ever worn, not only that, but it was showing far too much of her stomach than necessary. Lily was surprised she couldn't see Claire's bra. It also seemed like she had rolled her skirt. Claire's underwear was showing for the whole world to see. Sirius waved his wand and Claire could speak again.

"What d'you do with my boyfriend?" she groaned, a note of giggling slurring her words. Sirius shook his head at her. She looked at him her expression changed. She walked up to him and threw her arms around his neck. "I hate you, ya know dat, right?" she asked, her speech getting worse by the minute, She was giggling hysterically, and Sirius wasn't even smiling.

"Claire, what do you think you're doing, everyone's worried about you," Sirius pressed, trying to puch Claire off of him, but she was strong and she held tight.

"Ha!" she yelled loudly. "No one cares about me," she laughed again.

"We all care, Claire," Sirius pressed.

"No you don," she tried to pronounce, still laughing and sounding very buoyant. Lily wondered just how much Claire had drunk. "You hate me, Sirius Black, and I know it!" she said, stressing certain words and backing away, poking him hard in the chest. "You accused Jack of cheatin on me!"

"He is cheating on you!" yelled Sirius now.

"I know," she said softly. Sirius looked at her with questioning eyes. He didn't want Claire to know that.

"What?" he asked.

"I didn't say nothing!" she replied angrily, poking him again.

"Tell me what you said!" shouted Sirius. He grabbed her arms and shook her lightly, as though that would detoxify her. She threw his arms off of her and smacked him hard across the face. Sirius staggered backwards for a few seconds and then walked back up to Claire, wrapping his muscled arms around her in a kind and soft hug. Lily watched in awe. Claire had begun crying, her face buried in Sirius's shoulder. She didn't wrap her arms around him though, but stood there, shaking and sobbing uncontrollably. When Sirius let go, Claire stumbled backwards, her feet tripping over themselves and toppled over a desk behind her. She almost fell, but Sirius saw it coming and caught her before her head hit the tile.

"I…knew…he was…cheating," she said, struggling to frame the words correctly. "I…knew." Her excessive make up was running down her face as it blended with the tears. Her eyes were bloodshot and she looked miserable. She probably was miserable. Then, without warning, she passed out, Sirius catching her before she hit the floor once more.

_Meanwhile_

James, Remus, and Tanya were leading a pack of very pretty girls to a certain classroom a few halls down from where Lily and Sirius were. They opened the door and every girl said the same thing.

"Hi, honey!" came the chorus of female voices. And then, each girl turned to one another.

"How do you know him?"

"Why did you call him honey?"

"You bitch!"

"Hey!" came James's voice. All the girls turned to him. "You've all been victims here, ladies, and I suggest your anger be taken out on the person who hurt you, and that would be him." James pointed to a very scared, and already bruised, Jack sitting on one of the desks. As soon as all the girls turned furious eyes on him, he froze in fear. Every girl ran at him as James, Tanya, Remus left, trying not to laugh. A guy like that, who cheated on every girl in the stupid school, deserved a fate like that, a fate far worse than death.

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A/N: Aww, Claire's being an idiot! We should so yell at her. Alrighty, I'll try to update by tomorrow, okay guys? If not, check during the week.


	6. Waking Up

A/N: Wow, Claire is a dummy, lol! Well, continuing on! Oh, and by the way, this chapter is really short and really important so, read it.

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_Claire's POV_

"Ow!" I said loudly as I sat up. Something was trying to pin me to the hospital wing bed. I knew it was the hospital wing bed because there were no other beds in the building that were this lumpy. I didn't dare to open my eyes, afraid of what I might see. Everything was a total blur and I couldn't remember a thing. I felt nauseas and I had a horrible migraine. I wanted to back to sleep, or just die because this had to be the worst ting I'd ever experienced. I'd woken up with a hangover every morning for the past week, what was so different his time. Why were there two stomach pains this time other than just the sick feeling. I realized it, a stabbing pain in the pit of my stomach, guilt. Why was I guilty? What had I done wrong? Nothing seemed to surface in my memory. I struggled to open my eyes, and when they had peeked open, I saw there were a pair of arms draped over my sleeping form, a head resting on the arms, asleep. I tried to concentrate on the face. The person who was attached to it was sitting in one of the hospital's arm chairs, looking worried.

I tried to concentrate on the face again, it seemed so familiar and so beautiful. I wanted to memorize every facet in it, but I felt like even if I memorized it, it wouldn't be enough to capture it. I wanted reach out and touch it. And, without thinking, my hands traced along the face's jawbone. The face's eyelids flew open. I knew those eyes, from a dream or possibly something else, but where couldn't remember. They looked like the most emotion-bearing eyes I had ever seen. In them I saw sadness, relief, pain, torment, sleep-deprivation, and a haunted look that flowed through my mind and was automatically memorized. Something was strange about this face. That haunted look would haunt me forever now. As soon as his eyes flew open, she pulled her hand away, like a small child who was afraid of being seen.

Back to third person 

"Are you okay?" Sirius asked softly, grabbing Claire's hand as it pulled away from his face in reflex. Claire tilted her head to the side, as though seeing Sirius for the first time in her life. She nodded softly, pinching the bridge of her nose in the pain of her headache. "Are you sure?" came the voice in a more concerned manner. This tome she shook her head. "What hurts?"

"Head…stomach…guilt," she said without thinking. She clapped a hand over her mouth, the one that wasn't in Sirius's hand. Sirius smiled softly, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"You should feel guilty, very guilty. You lied to your brother, you yelled at me, you got drunker than an alcoholic has ever been and…" he trailed off as Claire moaned and threw herself back onto the pillow.

"Please, don't. I'm dumb, Sirius. I have the common sense of a thumbtack, sorry," she said angrily. She was angry with herself, for ending up in a position like the one she had landed in.

"You don't have the common sense of a thumbtack," he said comfortingly.

"Yeah, I do, Sirius. I was an idiot, I was a freaking stupid girl who was so pissed at the world that I went and got drunk every single night. You have not seen me not hungover for the past week." She sighed and rolled over on the bed so she wouldn't have to look at those eyes.

"Hey," he said softly. "Don't say crap like that."

"Why? It's true," she grumbled.

"No it's not, well, the hangovers maybe, but you aren't an idiot, and you know that."

"Leave me alone!" she yelled. Sirius was so shocked that he accidentally pushed the chair backwards and fell.

"Fine!" he yelled, standing up. "You keep on doing stupid stuff. See how Lily feels. You almost died last night, Claire. You kept Lily up all night, and she's worried sick because you two had an argument last time you spoke. She was mad because that's what she said last to you! She was worried about you, Claire, and so was Tanya. You see how you make the world feel, Princess Claire, little miss, I want all the attention so I go and get myself drunk and hit it off with the biggest ass in the school!"

"Go away!" shrieked Claire, sitting up and grabbing the vase off of her bedside table and throwing it at him. It shattered at his feet and he stormed out of the ward, slamming the door shut on his way. She wasn't mad at Sirius, she was mad at herself and taking it out on Sirius. The migraine was pounding in her skull violently and she wanted nothing more than to just die at that moment.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A/N: vey short, I know, but I couldn;t think of anything to tack on to end that. It just sort of sounded right to end there, you know?


	7. The End

**A/N: sorry for the lengthy time between updates, with school loading on the homework, this is getting way harder. So, let's move on, shall we?**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the stuff you don't recognize.**

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It was one of those days that had become so often now. Claire and Sirius weren't fighting anymore; they had gone past that. They refused to even acknowledge that fact that the other existed at all now. It was aggravating because Lily and Tanya wouldn't speak to Claire and so Claire and Lily and Tanya were constantly fighting now. Sirius was broken…he was depressed. No one had ever seen him the way he was now, and no one wanted to see it. James couldn't bear to be around him because it made him depressed too. Remus seemed to be the only outlet of comfort for both James and Sirius. Lily was exhausted. With being a prefect, homework, fighting, and loss of all sleep, she was losing her friendship with James quickly as her temper became more and more out of hand. Remus had gone to the hospital wing for three days during the month, and no one appeared to know why, but he was always taking ill, so no one thought anything of it. The Slytherins were beginning to taunt the Marauders and were constantly trying to get Claire's attention, which resulted in fights in the halls. Either someone would say something smart about how Claire looked and Sirius would punch them, or they would make a move on Claire, thinking she was easy now, and she'd beat the snot out of them herself.

"I can't take this anymore!" said James loudly, getting up from the table in the great hall and storming away angrily.

"What's his problem?" asked Sirius as he moved his breakfast around his plate without looking at it. Those gray eyes had become deep holes, showing so much emotion that even Lily felt sorry for him.

"I don't know," said Lily impatiently, without looking up from her homework. She hadn't finished last night, but woke up in the common room at seven with her face on the book and the paper unfinished in front of her.

"Maybe it's you," snapped Claire.

"Shut up, you drunk," said Lily rudely, snapping her book shut and standing up and walking away.

"Can you believe her?" asked Claire with a look of resentment.

"Actually, I can," said Tanya spitefully, taking one last bite of food and walking out too.

"I'll…uh…just be on my way," said Remus, standing up calmly and waling away.

"Whatever," Sirius called after him. Sirius and Claire wouldn't look at each other, and so neither of them looked up. Claire inconspicuously picked up a roll form her plate and chucked it at Sirius, hitting him square in the face.

"You," he hissed at Claire.

"I didn't do anything, Black," she said spitefully, not looking up from her homework.

"Shut up, Martin," Sirius hissed. Just then, a Slytherin approached the table. Claire looked up for a second and smiled internally. He was cute, shaggy, dark brown hair, and light blue eyes. He was seeker for their team too…a seventh year.

"Hey, Claire," he said, his voice like velvet. It was too good to be true.

"Yes?" asked Claire as though she had better things to do.

"Would you go with me to Hogsmeade next weekend?" Claire thought about this for a long time. He was the last person Sirius would want her to date, and that was a good reason, but Slytherins never had very high morals. But, back to the point where it would make Sirius mad.

"Sure," she said with a smirk. She heard Sirius's fork clatter onto the plate as he stood up and walked out of the hall angrily. "I gotta go," she said after a few minutes of sitting with him and completely ignoring him. Normally, she would have been so happy to talk Quidditch nonstop, especially since it was her passion.

"Alright, see you in class tomorrow," he said as she stood up. She felt a hand smack her butt, but didn't want to waste the time to hit someone, and she just grabbed her bag and ran to the common room. She muttered the password to the fat lady and leapt inside the common room.

"She did what!" came Lily's shocked and disturbed voice.

"She told him yes!" Sirius yelled back.

"How could she?" asked Tanya, even angrier.

"I blame you, Sirius," said Lily angrily.

"Me? What did I do?" asked Sirius, sounding offended.

"You're the one who pissed her off in the first place," Lily retorted.

"She yelled at me first," Sirius said, sounding frustrated.

"Everyone just shut up!" yelled Claire as she walked into the room. "I need to talk to Black about his behavior."

"Save it!" yelled Sirius, storming out of the still-open portrait hole.

"Nice," said Lily spitefully to Claire.

"Oh shut up, Evans!" said Claire with a death glare.

"Oh, we're on a last-name basis now too, huh?" asked Lily angrily, grabbing her bag and storming up the stairs to the dormitories. They heard a loud slam accompanied by a very loud scream of anger. Tanya followed, shooting a hateful glare at Claire. Remus got up and went ot the boys' dormitory without a word or a glare at anyone.

"Listen, Martin. Your temper, your stupidity, it has to stop," said James calmly.

"Shut your trap, Potter," Claire snapped.

"No. I don't have to do anything you say, and unlike Lily, I won't walk away from a fight," said James, still very calm.

"Yeah, so, what do you want to irritate me about?" asked Claire rudely, throwing herself on one of the couches while James sat in a chair across the room.

"Dating a slimy Slytherin whose name you don't even know," said James truthfully.

"Oh…so what? I only did it to bug _Sirius_," she said spitefully, adding extra hatred to the last word.

"Well, mission accomplished. And, Sirius only wants to help, stop being so horrible to him and maybe you will see that he actually cares about what you do." Claire was starting to get mad again, and, as usual, took it out on the first person she saw, James.

"I don't give a damn whether he wants to help me or not!" she shrieked. "He shouldn't have made me out to be the bad guy in the hospital! He should've told me he cared, he should've…." No, it wasn't yelling, it was crying. She curled herself up into a ball on the couch and cried there for about twenty minutes. James was at a loss for what to do to help her. She had never cried in front of him…never. She never seemed like someone who would cry.

"Claire," he said softly after about thirty minutes. She looked up at him, her face red and blotchy, and her eyes red and puffy. She looked like she was about to burst. There were tears running down her face and her hair had become a mess. "It's okay. You all better now?"

"I…I think so. So, what do I do now? Just pretend that we don't like each other? That'll be hard considering what has happened," she said uneasily.

"I think the first person you should talk to…are your best friends," suggested James. "Just wait for them to cool off and come down."

"Okay," Claire said, barely whispering. Just then, the portrait hole opened and Sirius came in, sporting a black eye and a bloody lip. James leapt over the arm of the chair and ran up to him.

"Padfoot, what the hell happened to you?" asked James with concern.

"I beat up that stupid seventh-year Slytherin kid," said Sirius weakly. "Wiped his memory a bit, so he doesn't know who it was."

"Sirius," Claire barely spoke from the chair.

"Oh…you're still…hey, what happened?" he asked, seeing her face all bloodshot and teary.

"James made me realize how much of a pain in the ass I've been…I am so sorry, Sirius. I don't know why I had been being so stupid…especially with the drinking thing. I…I am sorry, more sorry than you could ever imagine." Sirius sat down next to her and wrapped his arms protectively around her shoulders. She leaned onto his shoulder and buried her face in his shirt, crying again.

"It's okay…it's okay," Sirius whispered, rocking her back and forth a bit. James was still unnerved by the fact that the most happy girl with the worst temper he ever met was crying openly to everyone. There were footsteps coming from the staircase, and James could see Lily and Tanya poke their heads around the wall. They took one look at Claire and ran forward and wrapped their arms around her, all three girls apologizing and all three girls crying together.

"Never again, will we get into a spat as bad as that," Lily laughed, tears streaming down her face. Remus came down next, and he just looked at Claire and the crying girls once.

"Padfoot, Prongs, what did you do to them?" he asked disapprovingly.

"Prongsie here made Claire see what was wrong and she made it better, all by herself," explained Sirius.

"Well, that's a relief," sighed Remus. The girls were still holding each other and crying like crazy. James had become more unnerved by the fact that Lily was crying and it wasn't his fault…Sirius was worried about Claire because hadn't stopped crying for about an hour now, but he was happy, though. He had just held Claire Martin, the most desirable girl in the school, the prettiest, best Quidditch-playing girl he ever knew, smart, funny, sweet, kind, caring, amazing, and impossibly beautiful, in his arms and she cried on his shoulder and he rocker her back and forth trying to comfort her. Sirius slapped himself internally again. He was not supposed to get a crush on a girl, so what was going on with him and Claire. Were they friends? Where they acquaintances? Did they only hang out because James and Lily were friends now? What was going on with the world? What if…by some stretch of the imagination…Claire liked him as more than a friend too? They might have to test that some day, but, with exams coming up, Sirius had to stop wasting his energy on girls, and start wasting it on actually paying attention in class, especially potions, a skill he and James, never had much a knack for. Good thing Lily was in their class. She was a great potions whiz.

But Claire, he had held her, his shirt was soaked with her tears, she had looked to him for comfort before anyone else, and he liked it…a lot. No, he didn't get crushes, impossible, improbable. It just didn't happen to him.

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**A/N: Aww, how sweet it that? That's the end of this story actually. If you haven't read the sequel, "The Marauders' Final Year at School" I suggest you start because it is much longer than this story. Hope you liked it, and hope you like my other stories.**


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